Greens' say free-range egg offer not good enough

The New South Wales Farmers' Association is suggesting a standard definition for free-range egg production.

Tamworth poultry producer and the Association's Egg Committee spokesman, Bede Burke, says no more than one chicken per square metre is being proposed.

The Egg Corporation allows free-range egg producers to have up to 20,000 birds per hectare.

Bede Burke says the Farmers' Association is putting forward a stock density of half that, at around 10,000 birds per hectare.

"In accommodating the consumer demand, and in line with trying to put those eggs at a reasonable price, we've had to visit what sort of stocking densities exist in the range," he said.

"Most of the people who have put in these facilities have put them into two birds per square metre, or less, and for those that are going to have to come down to one [per square metre] we're assured they all can."

Upper House Greens' MP, John Kaye, says he welcomes New South Wales Farmers' support for a standard definition.

But he says the Association's recommendation is wholly unacceptable.

"Ten thousand birds per hectare? That's a ridiculous level of stocking density [because] it would still compromise chicken welfare," he said.

"It would undermine the expectations of consumers and it would also leave chickens without a decent standard of living."